And while the City of Ballarat has made opening up new land a priority in the first year of the new council, more will be needed in order to cater for growing residential and industrial needs going forward.

This week, mayor Daniel Moloney said without opening up a new region in the north of the city, Ballarat could run out of land within two years.

It's an issue neighbouring Hepburn is also dealing with, but more-so its lack of affordability.

Mayor Lesley Hewitt said the council had made it a priority to investigate ways of creating more affordable housing, with statistics this week showing the median house price had jumped by an astonishing 57.2 per cent in the past five years.

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"At the final council meeting before Christmas we passed a motion for officers to bring before council by April an affordable housing policy," Cr Hewitt said.

"We're aware that this is not only an issue for Hepburn, it's an issue all across regional Victoria - particularly areas that are perceived as an attractive place to live.

"We're close to Melbourne, all parts are of the shire are close and we're very accessible to Ballarat and Bendigo, it's a beautiful environment, we are attractive and that's a good thing."

Ballarat real estate agents are also grappling with a demand which outstrips the availability.

Buxton's Mark Nunn said he had noticed a 20-30 per cent increase in land prices in the past few months.

"There's a definite push for regional, population growth happening. There's more new people moving to town which is good," he said.

"There has been a shortage of titled land although there is a lot of land in the pipeline.

"You've got the government grants, the $25,000 home renovations and $20,000 first home buyers grants, so some are getting upwards of $45,000 to build a house."

Ballarat Real Estate's Allister Morrison said there were no good deals on land now.

"Bonshaw is a good example of it, we auctioned a block of land reserve of $275,000 and we ended up with a bidding war and it sold for $310,000," Mr Morrison said.

"We're just about to release a smallish estate in Beaufort and we've already got a waiting list. We had one in a good area of Lucas and there was a lot of disappointed people afterwards once it was all gone. There's a lot looking.

"It's due to a mixture of affordability, interest rates at record lows and and the banks are happy to lend to it, there's lot of incentives which take a fair bit off the top. Rental vacancies are low, so people are looking to buy."

Colliers International's Lauchlan Waddell said there was a good appetite out there for people wanting to do something in the industrial sphere, but there were not many opportunities for people to buy land.

"There's not much around at the moment. Wendouree, Mitchell Park and Alfredton are very tightly held but there are a few more opportunities in Delacombe. We've seen a huge increase in land value of the last two years, there's been a healthy spike and some properties are now achieving rates of $150 per square metre."

He said an upgrade to Ballarat Airport was of particular interest and its proximity to the Western, Midland and Sunraysia highways made it an outstanding opportunity for commercial buyers.